Watermelon Man

"Watermelon Man" is a 1962 tune by the pianist Herbie Hancock, written for his first album as a leader. This page has the Watermelon Man chords and a backing track you can slow down, speed up and transpose.

Who wrote "Watermelon Man"

Herbie Hancock wrote it. It is an instrumental, built on a sixteen-bar blues and on the call of the street vendors Hancock remembered from his Chicago childhood. He recorded it for Blue Note in 1962 on Takin' Off, with Freddie Hubbard and Dexter Gordon.

Recordings that made it a standard

• Herbie Hancock, Takin' Off (1962) — the original, a hard-bop quintet with a gospel feel.
• Mongo Santamaría (1963) — a Latin version that became a hit single and made the tune famous outside jazz.
• Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters (1973) — the composer's own funk reworking, opening on a hocketed whistle figure.